A Side - There's Something to See (2)

I first arrived in the city of Edith about a season ago, carrying a petition for the ruling Viscount. The town of Todd my father ruled over had seen an increasing number of beasts day after day. In the beginning, it was manageable. Beasts sometimes hunted people for food, so dealing with the occasional pack wasn't that unusual. Plus, towns were generally able to handle about five hundred beasts at once, so they weren't considered that much of a threat.

However, as the days continued to pass, the beasts only grew in number. Ten, fifty, one hundred, two hundred -- there was no sign of them stopping. The guards began to sustain minor injuries with each scuffle. A few had even taken a major blow, losing an arm or a leg. While our few mages with healing magic managed to patch them up, their mana was a finite resource.

I had seen how villages could be decimated by such a stampede. And for a town like ours, it wouldn't be long before the damage outpaced their recovery.

So, I came to Edith on my father's behalf to request some knights to help investigate and exterminate the beasts. And indeed, as the daughter of a Baron, I was able to easily secure a meeting with the Viscount. As one of the forest country's major trade hubs, this city usually had a surplus of troops, meaning most emergency deployments were swift and precise. It should've been a simple request to make...

"I'm sorry." And yet, when I arrived at his office, the Viscount stood up and bowed his head.

"...what?" His response surprised me so much that I dropped any pretense of etiquette. I couldn't understand what he was apologizing for. No... that wasn't true. He had to know why I was here. Why I needed his help. Is he seriously leaving us to die? "Are you saying you won't lend us any knights?"

"I'm not saying 'I won't'. I'm saying I can't." And once again, his answer left me bewildered.

"...explain."

Apparently, mine wasn't the first petition Viscount Edith received. The other baronies had also reported an increase in beast attacks over the past couple weeks. While Edith was rather well situated to handle these requests, they still needed to maintain a minimum number of troops for their own safety and security. After all, if the viscounty fell, the rest of us would join not long after.

"Baron Sonar's proxy took the last of the knights I could spare two weeks ago. I've requested help from the Count, but with how far away he is, I likely won't receive a response for another season."

"Another season..." That's impossible. The injuries were continuing to pile up. With how things were going, the beasts could breach the town walls in a few weeks. Maybe with some kind of miracle we could hold out for seven weeks, potentially even seventy-five days.

But an entire season? A full hundred days from now?

We would be overrun.

"I will deploy a platoon to the Todd Barony as soon as possible, but I would begin planning for any contingencies for the town being destroyed. If you are able to evacuate the citizens, we'll accept them as refugees."

Escape is not an option either. The average townsperson barely knew how to fight, much less defend themselves against beasts. They would be dead weight for any escort. Plus, quite a number of adventurers had already deserted Todd. The few that remained were those with family members living there.

So basically...

"I'm sorry," the Viscount bowed his head once more.

...we're screwed.